Contents

Early life

West was born William West Anderson in Seattle, Washington to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer.[1] He has a younger brother named John. He attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman College[2] in Walla Walla where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and participated on the speech and debate team.

Early roles

In Hawaii, West landed a role as the sidekick on a children's show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show.[3]

In 1970, West was offered the role of James Bond by Cubby Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever. West declined, later stating in his autobiography that he believed the role should always be played by someone British.

Post-Batman career

After his high-profile role, West, along with Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig (who played crimefighting sidekicks Robin and Batgirl), was badly typecast. West's first post-Caped Crusader role was in the 1969 release The Girl Who Knew Too Much. His lead performance against type as cynical tough guy Johnny Cain did not erode his Batman image; the movie was a box office disappointment and has almost become a lost film.

For a time, West made a living doing personal appearances as Batman. In 1972, when Ward and Craig reprised their Batman roles for a TV public-service announcement about equal pay for women, West was absent. Instead, Dick Gautier filled in as Batman.

West subsequently appeared in the theatrical films The Marriage of a Young Stockbrocker (1971), The Curse of the Moon Child (1972), Partizani/Hell River (1974), The Specialist (1975), Hardcore (1977), Hooper (as himself; 1978), The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980) and One Dark Night (1983). West also appeared in television films as The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972), Poor Devil (1973), Nevada Smith (1975), For the Love of It (1980) and I Take These Men (1983).

His typecasting kept him from landing more substantial roles. In recent years, West has exploited his fate to poke fun at his status as a pop culture icon.

Return to Batman

West often reprised his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, first in the short-lived animated series, The New Adventures of Batman, and in other shows such as Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians. In 1979, West once again put on the Batsuit for the live-action TV special Legends of the Superheroes.[3]

West made an appearance in a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series on FOX, but not as Batman (as the role of Batman was already being played by Kevin Conroy). Instead, he portrayed Simon Trent, a washed-up actor who used to play a superhero in a TV series called "The Gray Ghost" and who now has difficulty finding work. West later had a recurring role as the voice of Mayor Grange in the WB animated series The Batman.

The actor vocally reprised his role as Batman for the CGIanimated short film Batman: New Times. He co-starred with Mark Hamill, who vocally portrayed The Joker and had originally played the role on Batman: The Animated Series. West also voiced Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne's father, in an episode of the animated series The Brave and The Bold.

Noticeably, he played a washed up superhero in the Goosebumps television series episode "Attack of the Mutant." The boy hero is a comic bookgeek whose favorite superhero, Galloping Gazelle (West's character), is portrayed as fading and on the verge of retirement. Towards the end, the boy is shocked to learn that the Gazelle is real, though he must save the day by himself.

In 1994, West, with Jeff Rovin, wrote his autobiography, Back to the Batcave published by Berkeley Books. He also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled "Batmantis," where he displayed his book.

Voice-over work

West's character on Family Guy.

West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series (often as himself), including appearances on The Simpsons, The Critic, The Boondocks, Histeria!, Kim Possible, and Johnny Bravo. He also appeared in five episodes of Nickelodeon's cartoon, The Fairly OddParents, as a cat-obsessed version of himself who is famous for playing a superhero called Catman, and who actually believes he is Catman. Catman is a parody of his earlier character as Batman. A later appearance of Adam West in The Fairly OddParents world was a parody of himself, hired to play the role of the Crimson Chin in the movie of the same name. West also voiced many characters related to his famous Batman character, as mentioned above in the typecasting section.

West also played the voice of General Carrington in the video game XIII, and has voiced other video games like Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Chicken Little: Ace in Action, Scooby Doo! Unmasked and Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutant.

West has also done voice-over work for superhero-themed commercials for the investment firm LendingTree.

He also spent a month doing radio commercials, entitled, "What's Adam West Watching?", promoting Fox Broadcasting Company shows.